Always Consider the Cost

Are you talented? Good looking? Charming? Can you do things that most other cannot do? Are you also young? Then, I will offer unsolicited advice: always consider the cost of taking what you want from life because your gifts allow you to do so.

For as long as I can remember, we’ve glorified artists, handsome folk, witty folk, clever and bold folk to the point of godhood. While fortune certainly does favor the bold, there is always a cost to consider. Glorifying ourselves always leads to Hubris and Hubris always begets Nemesis. Pride goes before a fall, and an arrogant spirit looks good on no one. Should you then become timid? No, always be bold, but always consider the cost of what you decide to take from this life. In your boldness, never forget that you just got lucky, that’s all (that doesn’t discount the hard work you put in to perfect your talent, mind you), and be watchful for those not so lucky. Consider them, the weak, for many are weak. This reality we live in is not, by any means, egalitarian; this is an idea we conjured up from envy. Some are weak. When you see them, notice them. Can you help them? Are they willing to be helped? Pay attention to both, for if they are unwilling, you waste precious time on them when others truly are willing and desire just enough help to get up on their own.

Everywhere we look today, our media screens tell us to just go and take what we want, while at the same time berating us for doing so. I dare say those Magic Mirrors we stare at every day are perhaps the biggest liars the world has ever known, making Lucifer Itself seem downright principled. This creates a kind of cognitive dissonance that most people haven’t a clue how to handle, so many end up taking an either/or stance and drop any pretense of middle ground. I do blame the Magic Mirrors we stare at, yes, because that invention is a plague on the intellect and soul of Man. If you read much at all on the internet, you see just how polarized decency and boldness have become to one another, when in reality, this is not the case at all.

A bold man with decency is a man who can move mountains, because he knows that, though he can’t do it alone, if it’s going to get done, he’s willing to start it. He’s willing to take the verbal beatings, the murmurings, and the obstacles at first, by himself if he must.

Once he’s begun building what he wishes built, he will then seek out those he trusts to work with him, then he will help lift others up. There’s a beautiful selfish/unselfish dichotomy at work here that can move nearly any obstacle when a bold, decent man takes off to work on changing his world. A man such as this has counted the cost fully, but his will is the thing that pushes him and his change forward. It is not a will bent on nothing more than taking what he wants, however, for if he’s counted the cost, he already knows where to allocate the capital (of every kind); what he’s willing to pay for and what he’s not. He knows how reality works: Newton’s Third Law is always at play, for anything he takes without thought must be replaced, and will be, and usually he will pay a higher premium for thoughtlessly taking without in turn giving back. Only a fool plays the game of taking without giving anything back, simply because he can do so, given the luck he enjoys with whatever aspect makes him superior in his craft/genetics/talent over the average.

So, perhaps you can walk into a room and command the attention of all without much effort. Perhaps you are bold and able to dominate other’s will. Perhaps you’re talented to an astonishing degree. Before you go and take what you want from life, take very special care to think about it, count the cost, and pay attention to those who, though gifted beyond belief at times, have fallen by the wayside from their fame and fortune without so much as a whimper. It’s likely those who’ve fallen were just as good (and likely better) than you at your craft—yet they still fell fast and hard.